N. Karabakh claims to have retrieved bodies of helicopter crewmembers from crash site
YEREVAN. Nov 22 (Interfax) - Military servicemen of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) conducted a successful special operation to retrieve the bodies of three crewmembers of an Mi-24 helicopter downed by Azerbaijan from the crash site in the early hours of Saturday, the NKR defense ministry told Interfax.
"Taking into account Azerbaijan's official statements and its absolute lack of common sense, the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh had to conduct a special operation to find out the fates of the crew of the helicopter downed by Azerbaijan on November 12 and act accordingly," it said.
"As a result of the combat mission, the body of one of the pilots, the remains of the other two crewmembers, and some helicopter fragments have been retrieved from the scene of the incident," it said.
"Two Azeri servicemen were killed" during the operation, it said.
"There are no losses on the Armenian side," it said.
According to the Azeri Defense Ministry, an Armenian military helicopter Mi-24 had taken an attack course and tried to attack Azeri armed forces' positions 1,700 meters northeast of the village of Kengerli, the Agdam district, on November 12, after which Azeri forces had to return fire and destroyed the helicopter.
Armenian official sources reported earlier that the Azeri armed forces had shot down a Mi-24 helicopter belonging to the Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces while the latter was on a training flight during joint Armenian-Nagorno-Karabakh exercises Unity 2014. Preliminary findings indicated that the three crewmembers were killed. Armenian rescue workers were reportedly unable to approach the crash site as Azeri armed forces continued to shell the area.